Curtis Poole, head pastry chef, Chiswell Street Dining Rooms

Curtis Poole is the head pastry chef at Chiswell Street Dining Rooms. Starting out as a kitchen porter in his local restaurant, the Walrus and Carpenter, it was here that Curtis discovered his love for food and decided to take an all-round course to further his knowledge in all areas of the kitchen. Initially avoiding the pastry classes, Curtis was soon persuaded by his college lecturer to attend at least one class. Much to his surprise he ended up favouring pastry over other areas of the kitchen. Prior to Chiswell Street Dining Rooms, Curtis was pastry sous chef at London’s Skylon restaurant and has worked for five-star properties including Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel and JW Marriot Grosvenor House in London.

When the Staff Canteen caught up with Curtis we found out why dealing with stressed chefs is the toughest area of the kitchen to master and why he hates trifle.

You have been head pastry chef at Chiswell Street Dining Rooms for almost a year now, how is it going?

It’s going really well, I really enjoy it here and the company (ETM Group) really look after me. They give me quite a lot of freedom with everything I get to do. But the hardest part for me has really been trying to do all of the admin work that comes with the job. I’ve always been in the kitchen so as soon as I get plonked in front of a computer screen my brain fries and I can only take so much of it! I’ve done small amounts of admin stuff in other jobs but the admin side of being a head chef is crazy! I try and crack down first thing on a Monday to get it all done.

What has been the most challenging part of the role?

I think the most challenging part of the job is taking myself away from the kitchen to do the admin.

Can you tell us a little more about the pastry masterclasses at Chiswell Street Dining Rooms?

We usually hold these over the summer because that’s when people seem to have more interest. It’s a real perk of the job, I haven’t done it anywhere else so as soon as they said I could do masterclasses it was brilliant. It’s really nice to teach people who love food and have a passion for it but can’t get to a kitchen. When they do the classes they get to learn all the kitchen secrets, about the produce, where it comes from, how to use it, etc. They also get to see me make it and get stuck in too so it’s really good. I did a chocolate truffles masterclass not too long ago and that’s probably the best one for them to get stuck into. I made about 60 truffles and they get the chance to dip them into all different types of toppings, add different fillings and also learn how it’s all made at the same time.

So what made you want to become a pastry chef?

I was always around good food as a kid, my parents are big foodies so I have always learnt from my mum and dad and thought I would give it a go myself.

My first job was at a restaurant called the Walrus and Carpenter. It was a little restaurant in Bath which was open for about

35 years before it closed. It was the day my dad kicked me out and said “don’t you dare come back to this house until you get a job”, that I started working there as a kitchen porter and then slowly began learning basic knife skills, etc. It was from there that I decided to move into the food side of the industry and enrolled on a course to learn about all aspects of the kitchen. I actually hated the pastry section the most to begin with. It was the one side of it where I thought I’ll skip that, until the lecturer suggested I try it and I ended up really liking it.  

Who was your biggest influence in the industry growing up?

I think my biggest influence was moving to London and seeing the difference in terms of pace - going from quite a slow paced environment in Bath to the busyness of London really exceeded my expectations. In terms of who has inspired me, I had a college lecturer give me a book on Charlie Trotter who has loads of restaurants in America. At the time I used his work to give me loads of ideas, I thought what he was producing at the time was extremely technical compared to the dishes I had been doing, but looking back they probably seem really outdated now.

You have worked for a number of high profile restaurants throughout your career, what one has been your favourite to work for and why?

That’s a hard one, I’ve taken a lot from every restaurant that I’ve worked in. I met my wife at the Paternoster Chop House. I would say that ETM has given me the best opportunities in terms of career progression and also getting to work alongside some fantastic people such as Pieter Fitz and James Lyon-Shaw. The other one would have to be the Bath Spa Hotel which is where I got a feel for pastry and became really passionate about it. My colleague sent me on a work experience course at the Bath Spa Hotel and they actually kept me on so I quit my job and went to work for them. I remember learning to make chantilly cream for the first time and thinking it was the best thing in the world and ended up putting it with absolutely everything.